Audiology Appt v2, Canal

Manny and I woke up early to get down to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee for his Audiology appt. He did a great job today and I feel that the results more accurately reflect how I think he has been hearing post surgery. Normal hearing is 0-20 decibels, mild 20-40, moderate 40-70, severe 70-90. Prior to surgery he was 50-70+ (moderate/severe hearing loss) and today he scored 35-40 (mild hearing loss). While I wish he scored exactly the same as he did last week in Beaver Dam (more on the normal/mild side), it is still early yet and his ear is still healing. Afterwards, we got to cruise back to BD for his dentist appt. What a fun morning for Manny! But, we need to get all of these appts in before we head back to Cali for 3+ weeks and he comes home all bandaged up.

For those of you who haven’t experienced a hearing test with children, one Audiologist sits behind a mirror (similar to a police line-up) and conducts the computerized testing/recording results while the other Audiologist (if you have 2) plays the games. Today Manny had to listen for Speech sounds and then he put a checker in the Connect Four Game. Then, he had to listen for beeps and he got to stack blocks (see picture). Finally, he got to listen for white noise and he looked for black boxes that lit up (his favorite). The games get harder as they get older which also helps the accuracy. He also scored a new softband for his 1 hearing aid. We had a makeshift one we were using since his normal softband holds 2 hearing aids AND WE DON’T NEED THAT ANYMORE! (For now, anyways – ha!) UPDATE: Dr's office just responded to faxed hearing results "that's really good for this time (2 months post op) and yes it usually improves - let's get another audio in 2-3 months and we'll know what we need to do." SO-yeah!

We continue to do daily and nightly nursing care. Why do I keep writing "We"? :) Anyways, I continue to do the continual nursing care - ha ha ha - and we received new protocol for the canal to back off a bit. But, within one night the canal closed some "stenosis" (see photo to the right) so I fixed it myself as we were up north for the weekend, and it worked. I'm feeling like a master now but I guess it has been 2 months since surgery! You can see the difference in canal from pics just a few days apart See Photos-Surgery

This past week I booked day flights to San Fran and back for a post op appt, car rentals, and just paid deposit 2 for surgery 2 today $40k. Thank you everyone who has contributed to make this process so much easier on our family! Like the special ear guaze that is getting personally delivered today (thanks Dr Betsy and Amber!) and special skin healing vitamins getting mailed tomorrow (thanks Judy!). We are so blessed for all of your continued thoughts and prayers.